(This is a re-posting of an old blog post I wrote back in 2009. It was originally on MySpace, but Timberlake went and killed the Blog section of MySpace, so I had to repost it here. I know it's not emigration related, but it's very important nonetheless, and quite the read. If you are into betrayal, sabotage, spying, and murder (okay maybe not literal murder...but certainly career murder) then read on.)
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC – The
Musical Mafia
By Melissa Cox,
independent songwriter
September 15, 2009 (with updates and edits December 2013 & May 2014)
I wrote this essay to educate and enlighten my fellow songwriters about
the dangers of joining a Performance Rights Organization. Below is my personal account of how ASCAP
used illicit means to acquire money from small venues in my hometown, at the
expense of its songwriter members and under the seemingly false moniker of an
advocate of musicians’ rights. The words
written below are my own personal opinion and point of view. I welcome corrections, rebuttals, similar
stories, etc. in the comments section of this blog.
A few years ago, when I was an impressionable music
management minor at the University
of Delaware, I was told
over and over again to become a member of a performance rights organization (or
PRO). The “big three” PROs are ASCAP
(American Society of Composers and Publishers), BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.),
and SESAC (Society of European Stage Authors and Composers). The purpose of these organizations is to
collect royalties from venues, radio and television stations, and other
entities, and disseminate those funds to songwriters, publishers, and other
artists whose works are played at/on those entities.
Sounds good, right?
Upon graduating and
becoming a part-time professional musician, I did what I thought was best for me to do as a songwriter by
becoming a member of ASCAP. After all,
it was free, and I was eager to cash in on any revenue streams, which include
royalty payments.
My troubles with ASCAP were almost immediate. First, I encountered extremely poor, almost
non-existent, customer service. Whenever
I called and left a message, it was never returned. Whenever I did get someone on the phone, they
were rude, short, and rarely answered my questions.
Next came the royalty statements reading “zero,” meaning
zero plays and zero dollars. This
baffled me, because I knew that I was getting airplay on several radio
stations, both traditional and web-based, and on television stations. And I knew that some of those stations were
reporting their playlists. And I knew those stations paid dues to
at least one, or all, of the PRO organizations, because they have to by law. Despite all of this, I never saw a dime in deserved
royalties from ASCAP.
In 2009, I left my day job to become a
full-time musician. It was at this time the dark side of ASCAP
and its policies were revealed to me…
I was invited to play a laid-back coffeehouse show in my
hometown for donation money. I played
all
original material (or, in other words, songs that I wrote and to which I
held all rights, both recording and performance). Weeks after the show, I was contacted very
unprofessionally through MySpace by the venue’s manager, who berated me for
performing “copyrighted works” and putting her employer in danger of being
fined $30,000 per performed song that was registered with ASCAP. (Yes, you read that correctly:
$30,000 per song). Apparently, this little venue had dodged paying dues to
ASCAP and the other PRO organizations by hiring 100% original and traditional
musicians (traditional meaning that the songs are in the “public domain” and no
longer under copyright from any one individual…these would include very old
songs such as Irish/Scottish tunes, Native American songs, etc.)
At first I laughed, thinking it was some sort of
misunderstanding: there was no way ASCAP could fine a venue if all the songs I
played were my own. I had agreed not to play any covers that night; every song I played at the coffeehouse was my own, and I held the rights to play them, not ASCAP or anyone else.
I tried to explain this to the manager calmly, but
she shot back at me more unprofessional gibberish. I decided to contact the woman who
facilitated the coffeehouse series and ask her about it. She emailed me back and said that ASCAP
indeed threatened to fine the venue $30,000 per song. “But I played all of my own songs that
night,” I protested. She told me it
didn’t matter, because my songs were registered in the ASCAP catalog, and
because the coffeehouse at which I performed wasn’t paying ASCAP, they were
technically in violation of the rules.
Um, excuse me?
I was totally thrown for a loop. How in the world could ASCAP, or BMI, or
SESAC, or any other organization or individual, tell me where I could play my songs to which I held all recording and performing rights? Yes, I was currently an ASCAP member, but why
on earth do they think they have the right to charge a venue for songs to which
I hold the copyright?
The booker of the coffeehouse gig sent me
this essay
written by a singer/songwriter named Richard Phillips, who experienced a
situation very similar to my own, except his experience was with BMI, and not
ASCAP. His essay is very long - if you
do not read all of it, at least read the last two paragraphs, which include
this ruling by Marilyn Kretsinger, Assistant General Counsel of former
Congressman John McHugh (R, NY):
" ‘With respect
to the musical compositions that Mr. Phillips has authored, no performance
license is necessary since Mr. Phillips is the copyright owner of those songs.’
With respect to traditional folk songs
in the public domain, if I am ‘not performing a copyrighted arrangement of a
public domain folk song, then a BMI license is not required.’”
Despite this ruling, and the fact that this should all be
complete common sense anyway, PROs continue to use scare tactics and complete
lies in order to extort huge amounts of money from venues that employ original
musicians.
ASCAP has a history of being jerks. In the late 1990s,
ASCAP targeted the Girl Scouts for royalty payments, demanding that they cough up money for singing songs around the campfire. The campaign back-fired on them when a few brave and savvy Girl Scouts leaders refused to be pressured and went to the media, resulting in a huge amount of bad press that made ASCAP looking like a big mean bully on a playground (and rightfully so). Eventually, ASCAP backed off the Girl Scouts, but that hasn't stopped them from targeting less controversial, more vulnerable organizations like coffeeshops.
A few months later, still an ASCAP member (though a very
disillusioned one), I was gearing up to perform at another local venue – a
little non-profit grocery store that employs both original and cover artists on
weekends. While negotiating my performance
pay with the booker of the grocery store, she replied “We can’t pay you as much
as we want to, because BMI (an organization very similar to ASCAP) is making us pay $50 per performance plus a huge
annual fee.”
I couldn’t believe my ears – BMI had cornered this little
non-profit and threatened them with huge fines unless they paid up. I tried talking with the grocery store
booker, saying that she could fight this Goliath if she stuck to her guns and
employed only original musicians, and
backed it up with documentation and a copy of each musician’s playlist. In the end, they decided to pay BMI, in
part because they were scared, and in part because they still wanted to employ
a few cover-based acts to please their customers. I would bet my next gig paycheck that NONE of
the original acts who perform at the grocery store will see any of that money
filtered back to them in the form of royalties.
Two things became
very clear to me at that moment: 1)
there was a BMI “spy” (aka “representative”) tracking down all the
small little venues in my hometown and scaring them into paying them, and
2) neither ASCAP nor BMI had no intention of paying me
any of the fees they incurred from these venues, thus they did not have my best
interest as a songwriter at heart. It
was then I decided to terminate my ASCAP membership. The termination is still
pending, because according to their policies, all songwriters wishing to cancel
their membership must endure a “waiting period” of 6 months. My termination date is not until April
2010. My publisher membership is even further
off, in late 2010. It is obvious that
ASCAP does not let their prisoners go willingly or without a fight.
In conclusion, I implore my fellow songwriters to REJECT all
PRO organizations. Do NOT sign up with
them as members, unless you are absolutely willing to machete through red tape
and possibly deal with shady situations.
If you hear of any shady PRO activity in your town, of
representatives threatening venues with huge fines, take action: call the PRO
and demand an explanation. Call your local
congressman or congresswoman and complain.
Educate the venues about their options, which includes hiring totally
original musicians who are NOT affiliated with any PRO. Tell your music business professors that this
idea that all songwriters must join a PRO is outdated and harmful, and ask them
to pose the alternative idea to their students.
If you are not signed up with a PRO, but you perform covers,
check with the venue first and make sure that they are paying the PRO fees,
because that is the only way you can legally get away with playing covers
without having to pay royalties out of your own pocket to the artist whose
material you are covering (and profiting from).
Hopefully, the United States Congress will one day take up
this issue, resolve it, and begin regulating these huge corporations that use
their member musicians as pawns to reap huge profits. I only pray I will live to see that day.
UPDATE: December 2013
Two years ago, I left ASCAP, but not after being further
hounded by their spies. I finally rid
myself of ASCAP and resigned my membership, but it took 6 months. Yup, 6 months. About ten times longer than it takes to
cancel your cable subscription. RIDICULOUS. An
important note: just because you cancel
your membership does NOT mean your songs are automatically removed from the
ASCAP library! If you don’t request
that your songs are removed from the library, they can still collect royalties
on your songs, but not pay you, because you are no longer a member! (Not that they ever paid me to begin with….) So be sure to cross all of your T’s and dot
all of your I’s when you get out of ASCAP, or any other PRO.
Another update – a friend of mine, a jazz bass player in
D.C., is having the exact same issue with ASCAP. His venues were being hounded by ASCAP spies
and threatened with huge fines. My
friend also tried to get out of ASCAP but it will take him several months until
the “window of membership cancellation” opens up. (By the way, the membership cancellation
months are July and April, and ONLY July and April. You can’t cancel any other
time!!)
PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS ASCAP, BMI, AND SESAC = CORPORATE GREED AT ITS WORST. BOYCOTT PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS!
About Melissa Cox
I have been performing and songwriting professionally for over 10 years now as an independent, fan-funded musician. I tour across the continental United States, Hawaii, and New Zealand playing everywhere from house concerts to concert halls, festivals to street corners. My band Mythica and I have been fortunate to share bills with many greats, including the Spin Doctors, Sister Hazel, Smash Mouth, Three Dog Night, Catie Curtis, Cyril Neville (the Neville Brothers), Celtic Crossroads, Black 47, and others. I have a bunch of albums on Spotify and iTunes, and some physical CDs. If you like Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, Loreena McKennitt, Alanis Morrissette, Sinead O'Connor, or the Cranberries, then I think you'll dig our stuff. Check out my albums at
www.MelissaCoxMusic.net. On Spotify, search for either "Melissa Cox" or "Mythica" to hear our stuff. Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy our music.
